Is Fish Sperm Kosher?

Stonehenge like area

Sea and Mountain view from Observatory 

Sugimoto photograph gallery overlooking the sea

Tunnel and Performance Stage

Stone Tori Gates

View of Sky from Tunnel 

Kimono Store Y.&Sons

Ikura (Salmon Eggs)

Perfect Shrimp Sushi 

Fish Sperm!

We made it through the dinner!

We checked out of Asaba Ryokon after breakfast and took a Taxi for an hour and half ride to visit a new art museum: The Enoura Observatory. I loved the ride to get to the museum, basically you drive around Mt. Fuji seeing it from 3 sides. You then take a very steep downhill drive and finally arrive at the coastline of Japan – Sagami Bay. The main city is Odawara. The coast line reminds me of Santa Monica Bay, but instead of  a sandy beach it has steep mountains.

On our first trip to Tokyo years ago, we went to a museum show at The Mori Art Museum that featured giant photographs by Hiroshi Sugimoto. The photographs were ethereal. They were of the ocean blending into the sky. We loved the photography. There was also a small version of a Shinto Shrine he had created. That was our introduction to Sugimoto. We then went to Naoshima Art Island. There we saw more of Sugimoto’s photographs and the actual shrine he had built from his model. There was a special tunnel beneath the shrine that offered a unique view out to the Pacific Ocean. It was clear Sugimoto was much more than a photographer – he was also an architect with a deep spiritual background.

Sugimato has now opened The Enoura Observatory. It is an incredible architectural masterpiece. It overlooks the Sagami Bay. As a child he grew up in Ordawara. The vistas of the water and sky are the obvious inspiration of his photographs. But this complex, built high up in the mountains overlooking the bay is so much more. It needs to be experienced. Sugimato has collected massive stones, small rocks, old temple gates, and reassembled them in this landscape, each purposely placed to give vistas over the grey ocean. Each visitor is given an excellent guide book. It is best to read it in the reception area before wondering around the Observatory. There is, by design, no designated route to view the installation and nothing is labeled or numbered. You just wonder around take in the vistas and observe. I can’t conceive of being here on a rainy day. I would think the stones would be much to slippery to walk upon. There are several performance areas for Noh Plays and other works.

Unlike any museum we have ever been to, this is about viewing both the art and the nature. To accomplish this, they strictly limit the number of visitors at any one time. This allows one to take in the vistas without always having someone else blocking your view or crowding you. Some of the outdoor areas are massive stone stages for performances, others are benches made from old rocks to view the ocean. The architectural details of the buildings are incredible. This is all due to the vision of this one artist: Hiroshi Sugimoto. You can easily visit The Enoura Observatory in a half day from Tokyo. The train ride on the Shinkansen takes less than half an hour and then it is only a 15 minute or so taxi ride to Enoura.

The transportation Gods were with us, we had retained our taxi driver for the hour or so it took to visit the museum and requested he take us to the train station to catch the Shinkansen to Tokyo. When we reached the train station and went to the correct platform our train magically appeared. We didn’t have to wait at all, our timing by accident was perfect.

Aboard the train, I phoned the Four Seasons Hotel where we would be staying and informed them of the train number, train car we were in and our seat number. When we arrived at Tokyo Station and our train came to a stop, a person from the Four Seasons was waiting for us to take our luggage us and escorted us to the Hotel. Nice service.

It was then about 3pm and we decided to sneak in a quick shopping break. We had read about a Kimono Store called Y.&Sons. The designer, Michael, is amazing and Cathy has a raincoat from Norwegian Rain, that she loves. We have no idea what the relationship is between a Tokyo bespoke Kimono store and a Norwegian rain coat maker is, but clearly, they liked working together. I didn’t expect there to be any finished items at Y.&Sons, but they did have some great Japanese influenced coats.

We returned to the Four Seasons, cleaned up and had cocktails in the bar before heading out for dinner. Once again, the hotel had printed up a map of how to get to the restaurant in Japanese and then explicitly explained to the driver where to drop us off.  No surprise, we had transportation problems. The taxi driver drove to the designated place on the map and dropped us off. I felt the ride took too long and since we had previously been to the restaurant, the location looked off to me. Since all of the street signs are in Japanese, and the map was in Japanese, all I could do was ask locals where was the restaurant by showing them the map. We were literally going in circles around several blocks.  In desperation, I finally called the Four Seasons and they recognized they had printed off a map to a different restaurant with a similar sounding name. They knew it was their mistake. We jumped into a new Taxi (ours was long gone) and the Hotel guided to them to the correct restaurant.

We have been to Sushi Tomoki many times on our trips to Tokyo. This small restaurant is owned by an extremely young, talented and sweet couple. This is the Sushi Restaurant of your dreams. If you are going to have one sushi dinner in Japan go Tomoki Sushi. Make sure your map is correct before you hand it to a taxi driver.

There were three boisterous business people at the sushi bar. One of them said I absolutely had to order of Fish Sperm. This was a new one for me. I never had it before and he kept insisting I try it. It was not my favorite dish of the night, but what the Hell, if we could live through a Typhoon in Japan, why not try it. We asked and couldn’t get an answer of how they get the sperm, but I assume there are a lot of happy fish in Tokyo Bay.

I can obviously eat much more than Cathy. They kept serving us course after course of sushi. Cathy was eventually satiated and stopped eating, I continued for a few more courses. We had had 2 pitchers of sake and they comped us a 3^rd. They finally presented us with a bill – just a total no itemization. I have no idea if I had stopped earlier, the bill would have been less, or if I had eaten more, the bill would have been larger. I trusted them to be honest and I am sure they were.

After dinner, we hailed a taxi and showed the driver our hotel card written in Japanese saying “Drive to the Four Season’s Hotel next to Tokyo Station”. Tokyo station is the heart of Tokyo. Sort of like Time Square to New Yorkers every single person in Tokyo knows where it – except our Taxi Driver. The taxi driver starts driving, and I eventually realize we have been driving way too long. He, of course, speaks no English. We eventually call the hotel to explain how to get there. It amazes us, that with all the futuristic technology employed in Japan, taxis keep getting lost!

We eventually got back to the hotel and the driver tried to charge me for his meandering of the streets of Tokyo. I refused to pay him what he wanted to charge and he apologized and accepted my lesser payment. When we entered the hotel the manager and staff approached us and profusely apologized for printing the wrong map. As amends, they offered us free drinks in the bar. We accepted their apology and offer of drinks: 18-year-old Scotch for me cognac for Cathy.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Tokyo.